can someone help me with how many calories should be our goal

[fairphire]

hi, it's been a while since i've posted. my dh decided last night that he wants to start losing weight and wants to help me too. i've been attempting to low carb since january this year. with on and off success. i'm a bad cheater! anyway, he came up with a cute plan for us with rewards for doing things on the "healthy list". so we are both starting today together.

he weighs 267.5pounds. is 5ft 11in. and is moderately active. could someone help me find or tell me what is a good calorie range for him. he isn't doing a low carb plan but just wants to cut calories. (he doesn't like veggies).

i need the same help with the calorie range. i'm thinking 1200 calories a day for me. i'm 5ft 5. 247 pounds. and i do light activity. i'm doing a low carb plan, but i also would like to watch calories too.

we will both be exercising and drinking lots of water in addition to the diet.

please help. thanks.

Serena & Ben

[Four Eyes]

from the Aktins website:

"If you are used to counting calories and are more comfortable with such an approach, the general rule of thumb is to multiply your present weight by 10 to 12 to get the daily caloric range at which you would lose weight. For example a 150-pound woman who consumes 1,500 to 1,800 calories daily should continue to lose weight."

http://atkins.com/helpatkins/newfaq/answers/IMUsedToCountingCaloriesHowManyAmIAllowed.html

Not sure what to advise your husband

[lynnp]

Another suggestion would be to sign up at www.fitday.com (it's free) and track what you eat. I would think that 1200 calories would be way too low for you and might put you into stravation mode. You really don't want that to happen.

[fairphire]

thanks so much.

[liz175]

Most of us who weigh over 200 pounds find that we cannot lose any weight following the rule of eating 10x to 12x body weight.

The person I know in the TDC with the most expertise on counting calories is UpTheHill. She posts occasionally in the TDC and has a journal. If you do a search for her journal and ask her a question, I am sure she will be glad to respond. AZDean is also knowledgeable about calorie counting, but I think he learned from UpTheHill.

[fairphire]

Great! just the info i am looking for! i remember looking at her journal a long time ago. what an interesting gal. i will check out both places.

back when i was doing a low fat/calorie diet with nutrisystem i was put on a 1200 calorie diet. but i really do want to do this in a healthy way this time. i'm open to suggestions.

my dh doesn't want to do low carb because about all he likes to eat is starchy. but i've suggested that if he cut back his carbs to around 100-150g range it still might give him some of the benifits of low carbing. is this correct?

Serena

[adkpam]

Serena,

He won't lose quickly, but reducing his carbs probably will result in some loss.

My husband has a chronic illness, and so when he feels bad, he goes back to some carbs. But even this erratic method has resulted in a 15 pound loss and improvements in his blood pressure.

Perhaps your husband will find the new way of eating to his liking, and he will eat more of it. This happened to me.

[ItsTheWooo]

hi, it's been a while since i've posted. my dh decided last night that he wants to start losing weight and wants to help me too. i've been attempting to low carb since january this year. with on and off success. i'm a bad cheater! anyway, he came up with a cute plan for us with rewards for doing things on the "healthy list". so we are both starting today together.

he weighs 267.5pounds. is 5ft 11in. and is moderately active. could someone help me find or tell me what is a good calorie range for him. he isn't doing a low carb plan but just wants to cut calories. (he doesn't like veggies).

i need the same help with the calorie range. i'm thinking 1200 calories a day for me. i'm 5ft 5. 247 pounds. and i do light activity. i'm doing a low carb plan, but i also would like to watch calories too.

we will both be exercising and drinking lots of water in addition to the diet.

please help. thanks.

Serena & Ben
Hi,
I lost a lot of weight by counting calories, and I don't think it needs to be a math problem.

What I did was this. I took what I naturally consumed and cut back little by little until I saw appreciable weight loss. I kept at that level until weight loss got really slow, then I cut back a little more.

Don't create a "target calorie range" without first knowing what youre normal calories are. You will end up eating far too little (which results and hunger and quitting, aka the common low fat diet mistake), or far too much (which results in stalling oreven gaining). Your weight loss calories are a funciton of maintenence cals. First you must learn what you maintain with, and work from there.

[diemde]

I can't add much about calories. I do pay attention to both carbs and calories these days and I find that they are both important for my ongoing weight loss. ItsTheWoo hit the nail on the head. If you eat 500 calories less per day than you burn, you will lose 1 lb per week. Use what you are doing now as a guide on what you should change. I track in Fitday PC and find that very helpful.

For your husband, cutting back on his carbs will help. That is how I started my weight loss journey. The first few days, I tracked how many carbs I was eating. I was eating almost 300 carbs per day. So I set my first goal at 150 carbs per day and I lost weight. I didn't track calories at all. I then dropped it to 125 carbs and continued to lose. I eventually dropped my goal to 100, then 70. I never did induction, but just came into low carb this other way. It worked very well for me.

Good luck!